Saturday
NSU at Savannah State, 8 p.m., Tiger Arena
Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - After a confidence-building win at home on Thursday, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will take the show on the road again. This time, though, NSU will turn to conference play beginning Saturday at Savannah State's Tiger Arena at 8 p.m. The contest was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. before Savannah State changed it to 8 on Friday.

The Spartans will wrap up the road swing Monday at South Carolina State at 7:30 p.m.

Media Coverage: The game against the Tigers can be heard on WNSB Hot 91.1 online, available at hot91online.com, with Ross Gordon on the call. Fans can watch the game online and follow along with the live stats as well.

Last Time Out: Jamel Fuentes posted a career-high 18 points with 10 assists and six rebounds to help NSU break a four-game losing streak in an 85-79 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn Thursday night. In the Spartans' home opener, NSU erased an 11-point second-half deficit and used a 28-9, 10-minute run to get past the Terriers.

Rob Johnson added 18 points with six rebounds and three assists, while NSU's other three starters also reached double figures. Brandon Goode tallied 13 points and five boards, Kris Brown added 12, and Malcolm Hawkins chipped in with 10. NSU shot a season-best 52.5 percent and posted a healthy 15-8 assist-turnover ratio.

Series History: Savannah State and NSU come into Saturday's meeting with each having won three contests in the all-time series. NSU took last year's meeting at Echols Hall, 60-58, after Brandon Wheeless hit a 3-pointer with just 1.2 seconds left. The Spartans also swept the Tigers in 2004-05 in a home-and-home series. Savannah State's three victories came in three straight seasons from 1958-59 - 1960-61.

About Savannah State: The Tigers own a 5-3 record on the year, having recently beaten Western Illinois and Robert Morris at home. The victory over Western Illinois by a 39-38 margin characterizes Savannah State's style of play, as the Tigers score just 55.2 points per game and give up 52.8. Preseason MEAC Player of the Year Rashad Hassan leads the team with 13.8 points per game, while Preston Blackman is the only other player scoring more than 6 points a game at 10.9. The Tigers returned all 14 letterwinners from last year's team that finished first in the MEAC regular season standings.

That's Offensive: NSU reached the 85-point plateau against St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday. In the previous three seasons, NSU had only topped 85 points in a regulation contest twice, an 86-65 win over Florida A&M on Jan. 10, 2011, and of course the 86-84 victory against Missouri in last year's NCAA tournament.

Fuentes on Fire: Jamel Fuentes handed out 11 assists at Morehead State, the most since Aleek Pauline had 11 at Coppin State on Jan. 31, 2011. Prior to that, the last time someone had more than 11 in a game occurred when Pauline had 12 against Hampton on Feb. 28, 2009. Fuentes followed that up with a 10-assist effort against St. Francis Brooklyn. Since the 2002-03 season, no player had posted two straight games with 10 or more assists until Fuentes this year.

Spartans Stepping Up: Several players have stepped up their production in the past two games. Kris Brown (13) and Malcolm Hawkins (18) each recorded career highs in points against Morehead State. Hawkins scored his most points in a collegiate game, including his time at Delaware. Brown reached double figures for the first time in his career. Rob Johnson also had a big game, nearly posting his second career double double with 10 points and nine boards. He also added career highs of six assists and four steals.

Then against St. Francis Brooklyn, Jamel Fuentes topped his career high with 18 points, while Brandon Goode tied his career best with 13. Both Johnson (18) and Brown (12) came up one point short of tying their career highs as well.

Limiting Those Turnovers: Since the 2002-03 season, NSU has never posted a 2-1 assist- turnover ratio in a game. The closest the Spartans have come since then include a 15-8 ratio at North Carolina A&T on Jan. 27, 2003, a 19-10 ratio against South Carolina State on Jan. 26, 2008, and a 17-9 ratio against Longwood on Feb. 20, 2012. NSU had a 15-8 assist-turnover ratio against St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday.

NSU's eight turnovers marked the fewest since the Spartans had eight in last year's NCAA tournament loss to Florida. The last time the Spartans had less than eight turnovers in a game occurred on Dec. 22, 2008 against UC Irvine, when NSU had seven. Since the 2003-04 season, NSU has had fewer than 10 turnovers in just five games.

March to 1,000: Now with 744 career points, Pendarvis Williams needs just 256 more to become NSU's 30th all-time 1,000-point scorer. He is on course to accomplish the feat in late February.

O'Quinn's NBA Debut: Selected with the 49th overall pick in the Draft by the Orlando Magic, Kyle O'Quinn made his NBA debut on Nov. 2 against the Denver Nuggets, grabbing one rebound in a little more than three minutes of action. He scored his first career points two days later against the Phoenix Suns with a pair of free throws.

He added three rebounds, two blocks and two points against Brooklyn on Nov. 9, and then four rebounds, two assists, two points and one block at Atlanta Nov. 19. O'Quinn hit his first career field goal and scored six points all-together with five rebounds and two assists in a loss against the Spurs on Nov. 28.